Act One, Scene One
by turbomagnus
Summary: :Power Rangers Literati 11: Flirting, fights, nightmares and lost tempers mark another day in the lives of the Literati Rangers.


Disclaimer: While I don't own the overall concept of Power Rangers, Zords, and all else that goes with it, I, along with the friends that are involved with the story, do own Power Rangers Literati itself and its componants. If this is you first time reading a Power Rangers Literati story, please wait by your computer, the Dragon Spiritzord will be there momentarily to give you a MASSIVE hotfoot for waiting this long to start...

* * *

Power Rangers Literati  
"Act One, Scene One"  
By J.T. Magnus, "Turbo"

* * *

_...It's not easy fighting here without you, especially when everything is red - the blood, the British, about the only thing that's not red is the snow and that's because it's grey slush. Some say that the tide is turning because of me, I don't know, I think the rest of the army is doing more to win the war than I am, after all, they won without me before... The 'Green Patriot' is just a rallying point if you ask me. The problem I face is that no one asks me, they just see me as more than I am and every day I have to work harder to keep from letting them down. If I do, they might not be willing to keep fighting, then we'll lose..._

_If they draw strength from me, then my own is drawn from you, Beautiful, and I wait to see you again._

_Yours always,  
__Capt. Thomas Hart,  
__Continental Army._

* * *

Captain Hart sealed the letter and handed it to one of his men, "See to it that this arrives safely in Angel Grove, Corporal."

"Yes, sir," The corporal replied as he mounted his horse.

Hart watched the rider leave the camp, then looked around to survey the area where his company of Continental Regulars had made camp.

"It'd be beautiful scenery... if it weren't for the war..."

Reaching into one of the pouches of his uniform, he pulled out an instrument and started playing...

* * *

"Hmmm hm-hm-hmm hm-hm-hmm," J.T. hummed to himself, an old tune that had been in his family for close to two hundred years, as he worked on the final touches in getting Highway 2 back to the way it had been. The store had been reopened, but one last thing remained...

They had to finish stocking the shelves.

God, how he hated stocking shelves. When this was over, he was going to have to ask Mr. Z about hiring someone to help out - especially if they were going to have to run off and save the city and world every couple days. Beating Mars' monsters around town, along with the villain himself, Dreamweaver and Dark Ranger, might have been a good way to relieve aggressive tendencies, but it didn't do much for keeping the store running.

"Having fun, Johnnie?" Jessica asked, leaning on one of the shelves.

"Yeah, about as much fun as getting a 'hug' from a Pincher, love."

"Aw, and here I thought you weren't enjoying yourself," the redhead replied with a mock pout.

"Keep looking at me like that and I might not be able to stop myself from kissing you senseless."

"Is that a threat or a promise?"

"Consider it a declaration of intentions."

A loud cough interupted their banter, "If the children are through flirting?"

"Nope, not in the least."

"You know what I meant," Zack sighed, there were times when these two put Tommy and Kim back in the good days of their relationship to shame with the Public Displays of Affection. It was true that he missed those days at times, and also true that being around his employees helped him remember those days, but this was not one of the times he missed them.

"I'm not telepathic, I DON'T know what you meant," J.T. countered, "I know what you said, you asked if we were through flirting and I told you we weren't."

"Jessica, how do you put up with him?"

She raised a delicately arched eyebrow, "Are you sure you want to know?"

Zack groaned, "No, I don't want to know. I don't want to be here right now. I just want to go home and go back to sleep... In fact, since I'm the boss, I think I WILL just go home and go back to bed..."

With another groan, Zack headed back into his office to pick up his keys and some asprin.

The Green Literati Ranger looked at her boyfriend, "Do you think it was something we said?"

"More like something I'm about to do," the Black Ranger replied as he leaned in to kiss her.

* * *

"That was the most fun I've had," Amanda said, pulling away from her fiance.

"Ever?" Daniel asked teasingly.

"Since the last time, at least."

"Mm, what time was Yolanda going to be getting home again?" The Blue Ranger asked in a throaty whisper.

* * *

Traditionally, Power Rangers fight evil space aliens - both organic and mechanic - demons, extra-dimensional threats, sorcerors and genetic mutants, not 'normal' criminals. The self-named Literati Rangers weren't very traditional, though, which was why Justin Gibb was currently morphed and holding at sword-point a person foolish enough to try and rob a convenience store in city protected by Power Rangers.

"Now, WHY on Earth did you want to rob a store in MY city?" The Red Literati Knight Ranger asked, half-amused, half-annoyed, and all menacingly, after all, he had just wanted to pick up a soda before work and now he was going to be late for his shift at the store.

"He-hey, shouldn't you be taking me into custody, man?" The robber asked, directed at the member of the Scenic City Police Department standing nearby.

"Oh, I will," Officer Mike Coker said, arms folded, a cup of coffee held loosely in one hand, "Just as soon as the Red Ranger is finished."

"B-but that's not right! You're a cop!"

"Yes," Officer Coker replied, "And you're a criminal. Look at it this way; if you had tried to rob a different store, you'd be in worse trouble; the Power Rangers are one thing, the employees at Highway 2 are far, far more dangerous - they would have already broken some of your bones by this time."

"So," the Red Ranger said, pressing Ragnarok a little harder against the robber's neck, secretly amused by the officer's comment, "Remember from now on - 'Obeying the law means never having to say 'please don't behead me'.'"

One of the customers leaned towards the SCPD officer, "Really, shouldn't you be doing something?"

"I should..." Officer Coker answered, taking a sip of his drink before finishing, "But I'm not doing it just yet. I'm enjoying this too much"

The customer groaned, jamming his hands in the pockets of his blue windbreaker, "I should've stayed in Angel Grove, no monster attacks in years and most of the people there were sane..."

Overhearing the remark, the convience store clerk sighed, "I know what you mean, I wasn't even supposed to BE here today..."

* * *

Back at Highway 2, Jessica was back working the counter so that J.T. could finish the last bit of stocking there was, putting the new manga on the shelves, and be done with it. It was a little annoying that Z had reopened the store before everything was completed, but understandable since they had almost six weeks worth of closed time to make up for. More annoying than that, though, was the customer that she was currently dealing with. He had paid for his purchase and was still standing there being a problem.

"So, what's a girl like you doing in a place like this?"

"Working," Jessica answered coldly, she hated the idiots who tried to pick up her or Amanda, they didn't pay any attention to Amanda's engagement ring or anything either of the two said, "Sir, if there's nothing else, would you please leave the store? You're disrupting business."

"Something else? How about your phone number?" The customer asked, leaning on the counter.

"I am _not_ interested," She replied, her temper was starting to make her hot under the collar - something that, as the Literati Phoenix Ranger, wasn't always just a metaphor, "Besides, I already have a boyfriend - a serious boyfriend."

"So? He's not here," the customer said, smirking as he reached a hand across the counter, intending to take her by the arm, "He won't have to know."

He drew back his hand and turned around when a finger tapped him on the shoulder and ended up looking directly at a darkly glaring J.T.

"Actually," J.T. almost growled, "He IS here and he WILL know..."

Faster than anyone could see, a powerful right cross introduced itself to the left side of the other person's jaw as J.T. launched into a variation on one of his favorite combos. The next blow left the former-customer bent over, gasping for breath and in a great deal of pain after the employee's knee came in very forceful contact with his groin. J.T. prepared to finish it by bringing his left elbow down on the back of his opponent's head when he caught himself...

'_Mein Gott_,' he thought, surprised by how automatic and aggressive his actions had been, even for him, 'What am I doing? This isn't Jon or a Hardshell or something, I could KILL this guy by hitting him like this! That's not me; I intimidate and terrify, I don't needlessly or pointlessly kill people just because I feel like it, just because I don't like what they're doing... What's WRONG with me?'

All of this went through his mind in a fraction of a second and without breaking rhythm, he changed the way his hand was moving. With a snarl worthy of his Dragon Spiritzord, J.T. grabbed the guy's shirt and drug him backwards towards the door before reaching down to grab hold of his collar and bring him to his feet...

"...And he REALLY doesn't like it when people hit on his girl," J.T. finished his earlier sentence, putting his troubling thoughts aside for the moment..

Then he leapt into the air and kicked the guy in the chest, sending him flying backwards out the door. Jessica walked up and tossed the items he had bought so that they landed in the same painful place as J.T.'s first kick had.

"Consider yourself banned from this store," she added as she shut the door.

With a smirk, J.T. walked behind the counter and took out his pocket knife before picking a spot on the edge of the counter and carving a notch in the wood.

"First post-repairs 'kill'," he noted, closing the knife and repocketing it.

"That," his girlfriend took the liberty of informing him as she walked over to join him, "Is probably one of the stranger habits you and Amanda share."

"What?" J.T. asked obliviously, "Keeping track of the people we make regret their actions? What's strange about that?"

"Idiot," she sighed, "Oh, well. At least you're a cute idiot... and more importantly, you're MY idiot."

"Tomboy."

"Jackass."

* * *

"Ahem, you know, I don't so much mind the two of you making out as I mind the fact that you have to do it in here and not in Amanda's room," Yolanda said, brushing her hair back over her shoulder as she walked past Amanda and Daniel headed to her own room.

"'What time is Yolanda getting home?'" Amanda commented, referring to a comment her fiance had made earlier about her old friend and new apartmentmate, "Not late enough, dammit..."

"Just wait, Yolanda," Daniel muttered, "Just wait until you're with someone... You'll pay for this, yes, you'll pay..."

* * *

"You're late, Gibb," J.T. noted as the demorphed Red Ranger arrived at Highway 2.

"Yeah, well, you'll probably see it on the news, J.T.," He answered, "Anything I need to know before I start working?"

"Z headed out earlier, but he should be back before the evening rush," Jessica said, "There's a chance the SCPD might be by to talk about an assault incident, just give them J.T.'s schedule."

"Do I want to know?"

The redhead laughed, "When it involves J.T., do you guys ever want to know?"

"Nope."

"Well, this involves J.T."

"Right," Justin nodded, "I'll wait for the cops to tell me when they come asking for him."

J.T. rolled his eyes, "Are we going or are you planning to stay another shift, mo leannan?"

"That depends on whether or not I can convince you to buy me dinner," Jessica replied.

"I don't know... What's in it for me?"

"This," Jessica answered, reaching up and putting her arms around his neck as she kissed him.

J.T.'s hands slipped around her waist, "How does Olive Garden sound?"

"Expensive," she smiled as the two reluctantly pulled apart.

J.T. returned the smile with one of his own, not his usual smirk, but a real smile, "May I walk the lady to my vehicle?"

Jessica laughed again, "Olive Garden and being called a lady from one little peck. What would you do if I really planted one on you?"

"Marry you," came the response as J.T. wrapped an arm around her waist and the two started walking.

"Come on, you guys," Justin complained while J.T. opened the door for Jessica, "Do you two and Amanda and Daniel even remember that SOME of us are single? Why do you always have to act like that in front of us?"

"Because it annoys you," J.T. said, shutting the door behind him.

"Jerk," Justin muttered.

The door opened slightly and a voice drifted in, "Thank you."

The present Manager-On-Duty sighed and hoisted himself up to sit on the counter, "Why didn't I pick different friends? They're nuts, all of them... and he's the worst of the lot..."

Sighing again, Justin dropped his face into his hands and remained in that position for a long time before finally speaking, "And yet I'm the one talking to myself..."

* * *

"Daniel," Amanda protested as her fiancé tugged her by the wrist through a fog covered world. "You KNOW I hate cemeteries!"

"Oh, c'mon. What kinda witch are ya?" he asked, looking around as if searching for a particular place.

Amanda rolled her eyes in annoyance and exasperation. "Daniel, never in my life as a Wiccan did I EVER think I would have to say this to you: I AM NOT A NECROMANCER! CORPSES THAT DID NOT BECOME CORPSES BY MY OWN HAND FREAK ME OUT!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Daniel finally stopped and dropped her hand. "Now, you stay here. I left something back at the car, so I'll be right back, okay?" He patted her cheek affectionately and took off through the mist.

"Daniel?" Amanda asked in a very small, quiet voice. This REALLY unnerved her. Most of her time as a witch was spent telling people she did not mess with cemeteries, she couldn't even go to viewings without having a nervous breakdown. "Daniel?" she tried again, haltingly stepping backward. She let loose a scream worthy of one of those Z-grade horror movie stars she and J.T. made fun of so often when she backed into something cold, hard, and slightly damp.

"_Shimatta! Nande kuso?_" She swore profusely in Japanese as she spun around to find her leg brushing up against… a tombstone. This time, she managed to contain her terror filled cries as she backed up again, only making it twelve feet before another scream was ripped from her throat as she nearly tripped over another stone.

"What in the name of the Old Gods?" she shrieked as she spun around. It was then she discovered her darling boyfriend had led her into a large ring of grave markers.

J.T. Magnus. Jessica Parker. Yolanda Phillips. Justin Gibb. Zachary Taylor. Names she didn't know but felt she should. Everyone she considered her family and friends had their name carved into the unforgiving, gray stone. Everyone, including…

"DANIEL!" Never before had a more blood-curdling scream been wrenched from a devastated woman's heart. "No… by Amaterasu, no… Please…"

"Oh, yes, my beloved Yellow," came Dark Ranger's voice, tauntingly smug. "See what simply being your friend has wrought? And here you are, alone, forgotten, with no one to comfort you… except for your cats."

The multitude of meows coming from outside the circle chilled Amanda's heart. "No. I will not be that crazy cat lady. I can't." These words were spoken by a young woman, not much older than a girl, who knew her fate well but whose pride demanded even a token showing of resistance.

"Ah, but of course you will. You will die all alone, Yellow. Friendless. No family. Not even your children will survive you."

"No! I will not listen to you!" Amanda clutched her head, as if to block the voice of a man she had once believed she had loved and wheeled around, intending to escape the ring. Instead, she found herself staring directly into the polished surface of a blank stone.

It was not her image the unfeeling stone reflected. What Amanda saw there would haunt her for the remainder of her days: Her broken body, dressed in her torn, bloodstained Ranger uniform, her helmet crushed to dust nearby, badly decomposed with twenty or more cats surrounding it, lying in a ditch outside of Scenic City.

Amanda sprang off the couch, reflexively battle-ready, and landed firmly on her feet. It took several heart-pounding and terrifying minutes for her to realize she was still in the apartment she shared with Yolanda. No relief accompanied that realization.

"Oh Gods," she whispered tremulously, sinking to her knees, a shaking hand going into her hair, "Daniel?"

The Blue Ranger twisted out of bed and landed beside her, having been awoken by her own movements as she sprang awake, "I'm here, Amanda, I'm here."

It wasn't the first time since Dreamweaver had forced the Literati Rangers to experience their greatest nightmares that Daniel had found himself comforting his beloved and lover after she woke in terror caused by reliving her own nightmare. It was only fair considering that there had been times when she had returned the favor.

After holding her several long minutes, Daniel finally spoke, "You know what? Get dressed, we're going out."

* * *

"Interesting medallion, I don't think I've seen you wear it before," Daniel commented, observing the gold coin hanging around Amanda's neck as she finished dressing.

"That's because J.T. usually has it," Amanda answered, pulling her hair back into a ponytail.

"Why does J.T. usually have it?" Daniel asked, confused.

"Because it's the only real thing that our family shares. "

"'Your family?'" Daniel blinked, even more confused, "As in singular, related family?"

"Not for almost two hundred years," she explained, "We had the same Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandfather, or something like that, an American Captain during the Revolutionary War."

A tinge of anger and annoyance entered the Demon Ranger's voice, "And neither of you ever thought this was worth mentioning? In six years? I mean, if nothing else how about this; 'Dan-chan, I'm scheduled to work with J.T. Saturday night - by the way, we're cousins'?"

Still on edge from her nightmare, Amanda snapped, "Because we're NOT cousins. Hell, we didn't even know about it ourselves until he was working on a family tree for his German class! ...I don't know what we are - you have to go back almost the whole two centuries before you find a connection."

"I always thought that the whole sibling rivalry thing between you two was just a metaphor!"

"WHAT is your problem? It doesn't change anything about me..."

"Don't you understand?" Daniel moaned, "This means that I'll have the Psychotic Dragon Soldier-Ninja for an in-law after we get married!"

"'In-law'. How do you think _I _feel, I'm blood-related to him!"

Daniel kissed her on the forehead, "I'm sorry, Mandi-chan..."

"Sorry for how you yelled at me, knowing I don't like it when people do that to me, or sorry because I'm related to J.T."

"That was for yelling at you," He answered, then leaned closer, "This is for having to be related to J.T..."

Then he kissed his fiancee full on the mouth.

"That DOES ease the pain a little," the Witch Ranger whispered when their lips parted.

Yolanda closed her bedroom door and walked over to the window. Leaning on the windowsill, the Pink Ranger looked up at the night sky, wondering if there was any chance she'd find someone to be for her what Daniel and J.T. were to Amanda and Jessica.

Far away, someone else was pondering a similar thought...

Then Yolanda's thoughts were interrupted when she heard six familiar notes sound from her own communicator and those of her friends in the living room.

* * *

"Go," Z nodded, "I can handle things here until you get back."

"Thanks," Justin answered, heading out of sight behind a shelf before hitting the teleportation button on his communicator.

* * *

"_Ketsu no ana_," J.T. muttered under his breath as the couple stood up and pushed their chairs in, "What happened to the old days when fighting stopped for meals?"

"It's gone out of style," Jessica responded, pulling her jacket over her shoulders, "Like your poetry, Johnnie, it's not part of the twenty-first century."

As they headed out the door towards his jeep, J.T. shook his head, "God, how I hate the twenty-first century..."

* * *

"What have we got?" J.T. asked as the lift arrived from the Command Center's Zord Bay to the command area.

"Looks like Jon and a couple giant sized cannon fodder... probably Mars' doing. Nothing big, just the typical harassment," Justin answered, "How are we doing this?"

"Fast, hard and painful - for them," J.T. responded, "It's morphing time."

"Right!" The others answered as each of the Rangers crossed their arms over their chests.

"Unleash that within... Dragon Spirit!"

"Phoenix Spirit!"

"Siren Spirit!"

"Magic Spirit!"

"Demon Spirit!"

"Warrior Spirit!"

Throwing their arms to the sides, the Literati Rangers were covered in a light of their own color that solidifed into their uniforms and armor.

"You know," the Blue Ranger complained, "We were just about to go on a date..."

"Daniel," the Green Ranger answered, "We were already ON a date, quit complaining."

"Yeah, and I fully intend to take every minute we had to leave early out of Dark Ranger's hide," the Black Ranger growled.

"Can we fight the bad guys now and fight among ourselves later?" the Pink Ranger asked.

"She's got a point," the Red Ranger replied, "Some of us do need to finish this so we can get back to work. My shift isn't over yet, remember?"

"He's right, let's go - I want to go on a date so Daniel can take me home afterwards," the Yellow Ranger said.

"Didn't the two of you get enough of that earlier?" Pink asked.

"I don't need to hear this," Black answered, before he and Green pressed the buttons on their communicators to teleport away.

"Yeah, I get enough of it from those two," Red added before doing the same.

"Wait for us!" Pink cried as the other three followed suit.

* * *

"Aw, no," J.T. cried as they arrived downtown just in time to watch the enlarged Arachnia destroy a building, "Not my favorite hobby store... 'Curse you, Red Baron!'"

"So melodramatic, Black," Amanda shook her head.

"So foolish, all of you," Dark Ranger remarked from his perch on a nearby rooftop, "Are you going to fight or make it easy on yourselves and give up now?"

"Oh, don't be stupid," Jessica snapped, "Of COURSE we plan to fight, just give us a moment..."

"Six of us," Daniel noted, "and they've got Dark Ranger, those three big city-destroyers and a lot of the smaller ones, seems a bit unfair..."

"Hey, Purple-boy! We want to discuss terms of surrender," J.T. shouted.

"What makes you think you'll survive to have terms, hm?"

"He meant terms for YOUR surrender, dumbass," Amanda countered, drawing her Spell Edge.

"PLEASE say you're gonna resist," J.T.'s face took on a feral grin under his helmet as the Dragon Sword appeared in his hands, "I haven't gotten to utterly annihilate anything all day..."

The other Literati Rangers followed suit as Daniel flipped his weapon from Axe to Blaster mode, "Let's get 'em..."

"One second," Amanda interrupted, touching her hand to the coin in her armor, "Witch Spiritzord, mind stepping on these ants?"

There was a flash of yellow light as Amanda's Spiritzord teleported to land kneeling near where the Rangers stood. Rising to its feet, the Witch took a step forward, crushing several of the Pinchers and other monsters at Dark Ranger's command underfoot. A second step eliminated the remaining majority. One slightly-more intelligent Hardshell, however, was smart enough to attempt to run rather than just stand and get stood on. Unfortunately for it, however, the Witch Spiritzord brought it's staff down on top of the Hardshell, causing it to join its brethern.

"You know," Justin said, looking at the bodies of the fallen monsters, "That broke all kinds of rules about being a Power Ranger."

"Yeah," Amanda laughed, "But wasn't it so much easier than melee-fighting them for the next fifteen or twenty minutes?"

"That's true," the Knight Ranger shrugged, "So, who wants what giant?"

"I call the Hardshell," J.T. answered, "I just got a new recipe for Crab-Stuffed Chicken that I need the ingredients for."

"You're an idiot," Amanda observed as the Witch picked her up in its hand and brought her up to its cockpit.

"Insane, yes. Idiot, no," J.T. responded, putting his own hand to the coin in his armor, "We need Spiritzord power, now!"

Each of the remaining five Spiritzords arrived in their trademark styles, the Dragon silhouetting itself against the moon before diving down to catch J.T. as he did a Power-boosted jump into the air, the Phoenix streaking through the sky in a blaze of firey speed to do the same with Jessica as she followed suit, and the Siren Spiritzord jumping out of the river and flipping through the air before landing so that it could pick up Yolanda much as the Witch had Amanda. The Demon and Knight Spiritzords arrived on foot at the same time the Dragon did a mid-air transformation to battle mode and landed alongside the other Spiritzords, the Phoenix swooping around to land on the Dragon's shoulder.

"You know, Jon, there's two ways we can do this; the easy way and the hard way," J.T. said, the Dragon swinging its tail-sword, "In about thirty seconds, we're going to make like Maximus and unleash hell upon you and your three friends. By the time we're through, you're going to wish the earth had opened up underneath your feet and swallowed you whole."

Dark Ranger's answer was a laugh as he pointed his Dark Halbard up at the Spiritzords, "And what's the easy way?"

"Oh," Jessica replied, "That WAS the easy way."

The Phoenix Spiritzord flapped its wings in agreement with its mistress.

That was when the super-sized monsters decided to remind the Rangers of their presence, specifically by the Super-Pincher trying to take a bite out of Daniel's Demon Spiritzord. The Spiritzord occasionally referred to as the 'big blue Hellboy' demonstrated its distaste for this method by taking out its larger version of Daniel's Demon Blaster and using it on the Pincher, sending it flying backwards into a building. With that, the battle was rejoined, Daniel pressing the attack against the Super-Pincher and J.T. and Jessica challenging the Super-Hardshell, leaving the rest to deal with the Super-Arachnia.

"I'm... REALLY... Not... Happy... Right.. NOW!" Daniel was yelling, each word accompanied by a blast from the Demon's own Demon Megablaster as he walked towards the Super-Pincher. Upon reaching it, the Spiritzord's massive right hand grabbed the Pincher by it's head, eliciting an 'uh-oh' like sound as it was hauled to it's feet.

"Guess what? You're about to be not happy yourself," the Blue Ranger informed his opponent as the Demon Megablaster was leveled point blank at its head, "Give my regards to Broadway."

Seconds later, a beam of energy from the Megablaster's barrel caused the Super-Pincher's head to cease to exist and the body to drop to the ground.

* * *

Three fireballs launched from the Battle Mode Dragon Spiritzord's dragon hand struck the Super-Hardshell in the chest at the same time as several bombs dropped from the Phoenix Spiritzord.

"Heat oil to three-hundred seventy-five degrees," J.T. muttered as the Dragon lept backwards to avoid the Hardshell's claw, "Slice crabmeat..."

Two spinning slices seperated the arms from the monster before a reversal found it impaled on the Dragon's tail-sword.

"Wrap in chicken and drop into oil! Jessica, NOW!"

"On my way," his partner answered, her Spiritzord coming around for another attack, "Phoenix Firestorm!"

The flames coming off the Phoenix wings began to turn hotter and hotter, starting to glow white as the Spiritzord spun into a barrel-roll and plunged itself right through the Hardshell, passing within yards of the other Spiritzord. Pulling its tailsword out, the Dragon let the Hardshell drop to the ground, its chest still smoldering.

"Cut it a little close with the dismount there, love."

Jessica smirked, doing a little waggle with the Phoenix's wings as she flew past, "Play with fire and you're gonna get burned, Johnnie."

* * *

"I think Mars has a leg fetish," Amanda commented, launching a cyclone of wind from the crystal on the Witch Spiritzord's staff at the Super-Arachnia she and the other remaining Rangers were fighting, 'Think about it; spider - eight legs; crab - eight legs; ant - six legs. Everything they use as a basic monster has several pair of legs."

"Have you been - UMPH!" Justin winced as one of the Arachnia's legs caught his Knight Spiritzord in the torso, knocking it backwards. Piloting the Knight back to its feet, he finished, " - thinking about this?"

"Nope, just came to mind," Amanda replied, blocking a leg strike with the Witch's staff.

"You need a nap, bad, Amanda," Yolanda laughed at the same time her Spiritzord launched a Siren Song at the Arachnia.

For the Yellow Literati Witch Ranger, everything seemed to stop as the word nap caused her to think of sleeping. What she had experienced last when sleeping flashed through her mind, her eyes flaring yellow in anguish and anger, "No..."

The Witch Spiritzord's staff spun around before it was slammed butt-first into the ground in from of it.

"Magic Spirit - Power beyond explanation!" She shouted, causing both herself and her Spiritzord to be covered in a glowing yellow light so bright that even protected by their helmets, the other Literati Rangers had to turn away from.

When the light died away, Amanda's Spirit Armor had formed around her, causing her to look similar to her Spiritzord's usual appearance. The Witch, however, had changed in form as well. While the plate in front had lengthened, the other metal plates that formed the Witch's 'skirt' had merged together to form a kama. A thick 'collar' had formed around the shoulders, two swords crossed on its back, and the staff had turned into a kind of spear.

With a snarl from its pilot, the Witch Spiritzord ripped its spear out of the ground and sent it hurling skyward as it drew the twin swords from its back. As the swords swung through the air, two seperate spells were cast on them, one ice and one fire. The ice-enchanted sword struck first, freezing the Arachnia in a solid block of ice. Then the fire-enchanted sword flared as it impacted, the sudden and extreme change in temperature shattering the ice and the glass-like shards shreading the Arachnia. Amanda, however, wasn't yet finished. Amanda yelled and the swords were resheathed as her Spiritzord lept into the air to take hold of the spear that had reached the apex of its flight and turn it around, pointing the spearhead towards the monster. A yellow-white column of light stretched from the heavens to the ground, surrounding the Spiritzord as it lunged downward. As the spear was driven through the Super-Arachnia and into the building behind it, the column of light exploded outward, all but disintegrating the monster and the building...

"Damn..." Justin whistled.

"Damn..." Yolanda gaped.

"Damn..." Daniel added in awe as he arrived.

"Damn, girl..." Jessica muttered.

"_Scheiße_..." J.T. whispered in German, stunned, "And I thought I was destructive..."

Over a private communication link, his girlfriend added her own opinion to that, "Did you see what else she got?"

J.T. took a closer look at the nearby rubble, "Hm. Always knew that place would fall down without us there. Just didn't think it'd also be because of us."

* * *

"Dammit," Jon Maxwell cursed, "Where is that fool Mars when he's needed?"

Dreamweaver slinked out of the shadows in her unmutated form to slide her arms around Dark Ranger, "Who says he's needed?"

With a laugh, the villianess threw a pair of red crystals into the air and watched them merge into the two remaining giant monsters...

* * *

As the shards of red gem entered the remains of the super-Pincher and super-Hardshell, they started glowing as they were drawn together. When the light faded, a single, larger monster stood there with the head and limbs of a Hardshell and torso of a Pincher.

"Oh, great," Justin groaned, "Why can't they ever just admit defeat after the first round?"

"That, mate," J.T. said in a poor imitation of a Cockney accent, "Just wouldn't be cricket."

"Cricket?" Amanda rolled her eyes, "You have to know what a crumpet is to understand cricket."

"Did they hire Dr. Frankenstein or something?" Yolanda wondered.

"It's 'Fronk-en-steen,'" Daniel corrected, "Now, if everything goes like it usually does, right about now..."

There was a rumble as the ground was torn asunder by Dark Ranger's Scorpion Spiritzord forcing its way to the surface. Blasts of energy fired wildly from its tail as it swiped at the other Spiritzords with its claws. In the cockpit of his own, J.T. groaned.

"Aw, bugger. Couldn't you pick something else to be right about, Daniel?"

"I'll tell you what. Next week, you buy a lottery ticket and I'll pick the numbers for you," Daniel responded as the Demon Spiritzord jumped quickly to avoid one of the Scorpion's claws.

"No, thanks," J.T. answered grabbing the Scorpion by the tail, "I have my own numbers. Now, I've got this, so somebody get that... thing!"

"Boss, boss, boss - you know, I think you'd go crazy if you never got a chance to tell people what to do," Amanda commented as she struck out against the monster du jour with the spear of the Battlized Witch Spiritzord.

"Just do it, Suichi!"

With a roar, the Battle Mode Dragon spun around and threw the Scorpion into the air before spreading its wings and taking off after it.

"So, do we battle this thing individually for a while first or just skip to the Megazord?"

"Daniel?"

"Yes, dear?"

"Shut up."

"Yes, Mandi-chan," The Blue Ranger said contritely, "Initiate Megazord Sequence."

The Siren and Knight Spiritzords took on leg formation as the Demon's lower legs folded up into the upper legs, the three Spiritzords locking together, the left arm and head of the Demon retracting into the body. The Witch shifted into an arm and joined onto the left side of the forming Megazord before the Phoenix landed on the shoulders and dropped into head mode. Organized in the cockpit in two rows, Amanda and Daniel in front, the others behind, the Rangers activated the completed Megazord.

"Spirt Megazord, online!"

"Voltron, eat your heart out," Amanda added, still in her Battlized form, as the Spirit Megazord spun the Battlized Witch's spear.

"Is it just me," Justin asked nobody in particular, "Or are we getting worse about the smart remarks?"

"Must be you, I think we're getting better with them," Yolanda answered.

"WOAH!" With that shout, Jessica jerked her controls and ignited small thrusters that sent the Spirit Megazord into the air in time to avoid a spray of acid shot from the monster's mouth, "Uh, guys? First priority is to not get killed, remember?"

"'No get killed'," Daniel repeated, pretending to write it down, "Got it."

"Idiot," The Green Ranger muttered under her breath.

"MINE!" Having caught what Jessica had said, Amanda's response was forceful and possessive.

"You can HAVE the boy in blue, I'LL take the boy in black," Jessica snapped back, trying to both avoid more attacks by the monster while keeping the hovering Megazord stable enough for the others to get a weapons lock on it.

"Do you mind?" Justin complained, "Trying to destroy a monster here. Hard to do with you two going on like that."

The leg of the Megazord that was formed out of the Knight Spiritzord swung around in a roundhouse kick to the monster's head that Chuck Norris would be proud of as Justin finished speaking. Seconds later, the right hand of the Megazord blocked a claw strike with the barrel of the Demon Megablaster. The Megazord's counterattack was in the form of putting the spear through the monster's torso...

"Lightning," Amanda said simply, smiling cruelly.

The skies above Scenic City darkened, clouds gathering over the downtown area that was currently being ravaged by combat. Then the momentary quiet was shattered as the darkness was torn by several larger streaks of lightning shooting down from the clouds towards the Megazord's spear, blasting the monster that was being fought. The spear still in the monster, the Demon Megablaster was flipped in the air and caught as the Demon Mega-Axe, then swung down and to the right, again down and to the left, transformed back into the Megablaster and fired at point blank range right where the two cuts met.

This time, there was nothing left for the villians to revive.

* * *

In mid-air, held aloft by wings and thrusters, the Dragon and Scorpion Spiritzords circled each other in Battle Mode.

"You're like me, Magnus. There is a Darkness to you as well."

"I'm not like you, Maxwell. I refuse to let darkness take me."

Unbidden, however, thoughts of what he had almost done to the guy who had been attempting to flirt with Jessica came to J.T.'s mind.

"That's why you'll win the battles but not the war," Dark Ranger continued, "All your precious heroic 'light' is doing is casting Dark shadows. For everything you try to defeat us, you only make us more powerful."

"That may be so, but enough light can drive away any darkness, even a Dark Spirit," the Dragon Ranger countered.

"If that's what you really believe, John, I'm surprised you've lasted this long."

The burning rage that usually overtook J.T. at being called by his given name didn't come, in it's place, however, there was a cold fury.

"Y'know what dey say, _Jonathon_," The Black Ranger came back using Dark Ranger's own full name and a cajun accent, "'de proof be in de pudding.' Well, I 'bout to be making da pudding outta your face!"

J.T. launched the Dragon towards the Scorpion, moving into a backflip at the same time to add power to the impact as it kicked the Scorpion square in the face. Twisting around to end up behind the Scorpion, the Dragon's attack was continued as it wrapped its arms around its opponent's neck and heaved backwards sending the Dark Spiritzord flying into a skyscraper.

"Dragon Burner!"

A steady stream of flame spewed forth from the Spiritzord's dragon-head hand, burning deep into the armor of the Scorpion as it struggled to unembed itself from the edifice of steel and concrete.

'This wasn't how it was supposed to go,' Dark Ranger thought in a panicked confusion.

The sheer ferocity of the Black Ranger's attack had his enemy stunned, the normal challenges and swordplay were missing, replaced by deathly silence and vicious combat. Dark Ranger was quickly finding himself on the defensive.

"Laser Sting!"

The Dragon wove in and out of the streams of energy fired from the Scorpion's tail with little trouble.

"Claw Missiles!"

Faster than could be seen, the Dragon's tail-sword was in it's humanoid hand and being used to block the Scorpion's missiles. Even the rapid blasts from the Scorpion's hip-mounted laser turrets were being shrugged off for one simple reason. The Spiritzords drew their power from the Rangers they were partnered to - they reacted to their Rangers, they protected their Rangers, and they were fueled by the same Power that fueled their Rangers...

And at that moment, the Dragon Spiritzord's power was coming from the anger being felt by the Black Literati Ranger as it slammed its sword through the Scorpion, pinning it in a twisted parody of a butterfly in someone's collection. And Dark Ranger knew fear as sky darkened around them and the humanoid hand closed around the neck of the Scorpion while the normally stone grey eyes of the Dragon, both heads, turned to a malicious red...

"You want darkness, Jon?' I'll show you darkness."

The hand around the Scorpion's neck tightened as the dragon-head hand grabbed the bottom edge of the melted hole left by the earlier Dragon Burner. Then, both hands began pulling, the head of the Dark Spiritzord was the first thing to go, wires trailing as it was seperated from the shoulders, followed quickly by the lower body being torn away from the upper body. Grabbing the hilt of the tail-sword, the Dragon ripped it out of its opponent and returned it to its place on the Spiritzord's back before picking up the remains of the Scorpion's torso where its cockpit was.

"Is this darkness enough for you, Jon?"

J.T. tossed the ravaged torso that his Spiritzord held back on top of the other parts of the Scorpion. Standing there, the Dragon's arms crossed over its chest, it's pilot wasn't surprised when the remains of the other Spiritzord were teleported away.

* * *

After the battle, the Rangers, even those who weren't scheduled to be there, gathered at Highway 2 along with several large pizzas of various toppings and innumerable soft drinks to celebrate another battle won.

"Damn, J.T.," Justin shook his head, "Do you think you did enough damage to Jon's Spiritzord?"

"Is it repairable?" J.T. asked back.

"I don't know..."

"Yeah," Daniel added, "I mean, you all but drew and quartered it."

J.T. gestured with the slice of pizza in his hand, "If it's repairable, then I obviously didn't do enough."

"You've got problems, you know that, right?" Zack commented, looking at his employees.

"Mr.Z.," J.T. answered, "We run around at all hours of the day and night fighting monsters of all sorts while trying to keep secret identities - AND we do it all while wearing spandex. Of COURSE we've got problems."

"It's not Spandex," Amanda started.

Everyone finished together, "It's Lycra."

The laughing, talking, and most importantly the eating continued late into the night.

* * *

Author's Notes: Uh... I'm sorry it's taken this long to have a new story in the PRL universe written. My muses had gone into hiding and it took almost this entire time to track them down and drag them back. If anyone's wondering, the title "Act One, Scene One" is a reference to Anton Chekov's Rules of Playwriting. If you don't understand, stay tuned. You will.


End file.
